Are you planning to set up a WordPress-based e-commerce site, or sell goods to a foreign audience? If so, then it’s a good idea to consider providing your potential customers with currency conversion.
Currency conversion software tools allow your customers to have the cost of an international currency transaction translated to their local currency at the point of sale. It also allows visitors to see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
One great advantage of adding currency conversion to your website is that it allows your customers to view and understand prices in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for purchasers to work out their costs and expenses.
If you are a WordPress user, you can add a currency conversion plugin to WordPress, allowing your prospective customers to quickly perform currency conversions to determine the cost of your products.
Currencyr – Currency Converting Tool For WordPress
Currencyr is a simple, easy-to-use and complete currency converter plugin with a unique converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free to install and use on your WP website.
Some of the features of this great plugin include the following:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports various exchange rates providers, like Google, Open Exchange Rates & FoxRates
- Supports Shortcodes
- Widgetized currency table and converter
- Supports integration with a number of e-store plugins such as WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automatic local currency determination
- Full language translation support
Note: The Currencyr plugin requires PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not install this plugin if you are running an older version of PHP on your server. Ask your web hosting provider to upgrade your PHP.
***
You can install the Currencyr plugin from your WP admin area by typing in “currencyr” into the Plugins search field and clicking “Install Now” …
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can get to the plugin’s settings section by choosing Currencyr from your WordPress dashboard area …
This takes you to the plugin settings page …
For example, you can choose a base currency from the ‘Base Currency’ drop-down menu if you want a different currency than the default option ’USD’ …
You can also select which data provider you want to use from the dropdown menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default provider is Yahoo Finance, but you can also select one of the other options, such as European Central Bank or Open Exchange Rates …
Note: If you select Open Exchange Rates, an API (Application Programming Interface) will be required …
You can choose how frequently you want the exchange rates to be updated by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The plugin uses jQuery, which is an open-source library of Javascript code that lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (e.g. WordPress plugins).
Unless there is a reason to change the jQuery settings, leave this option alone …
Edit the rest of the settings and remember to click Save Changes when finished …
Once your plugin settings have been configured, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP page or post using shortcodes and widgets.
Refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the end of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, GBP, CAD, etc …) with this plugin.
Plugin Shortcodes
You can easily add currency conversion to pages, posts and widgets without editing your web templates using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to posts and pages:
Let’s say that you sell a product on your site for a fixed amount (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you want to display your conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your product information page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode to your page content …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 175.00, 197.00, 399.99, etc …)
The example below shows how the shortcode looks after being inserted into a post …
After your content has been published, your currency conversion will display as seen below …
Using this example, let’s also display the same amount into multiple currencies.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you like by using vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode looks when you add it to a post …
After publishing the post or page, your converted currency will then appear as shown below …
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section further below to learn how to change the currency separator symbol with the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to specify a different base currency than the one selected as the default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to non-European customers (e.g. Australia or Canada), you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
The screenshot below shows how the above shortcode looks when inserted into your content …
Once the content has been published, the currency conversion will then appear as seen below …
Using The Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your website’s sidebar section using the plugin’s widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar, choose Appearance > Widgets in the WP dashboard menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets area find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to an Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget settings as shown below (add currency codes separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
The currency converter tool will now show on the sidebar menu with the settings you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify the symbol to display as the currency separator when using several currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the Multiple Separator settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Displays your currency values separated by a forward slash as you can see in the screenshot below …
If you modify the symbol and resave your plugin settings …
Your web site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
Integration With WordPress e-Commerce Platforms
As described earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WordPress-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, Shopp, and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from plugin website)
Congratulations! Now you know how to easily add currency conversion to your e-commerce website.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org