Do you sell your products online globally? If so, then here’s a great idea: think about providing users with a currency conversion service.
Currency converting software tools allow your site visitors to translate international currency pricing to their local currency when purchasing or checking out products online. It also lets your visitors see the exact amount their card or PayPal account will be charged, expressed in their own local currency.
The obvious benefit of adding currency conversion is that it allows customers to see and understand pricing in foreign countries in their own home currency, and makes it easier for customers to calculate their costs and expenses.
If your site is built with WordPress, it’s quite simple to add currency conversion using a plugin to your WordPress web site, allowing your visitors to quickly and easily understand the cost of your goods.
Currencyr – WordPress Free Currency Converter
Currencyr is an intuitive, easy-to-use and complete currency converter WP plugin with a unique and attractive converter tooltip. Best of all, it’s free!
Great plugin features include:
- Inline conversion tool
- Supports a number of exchange rates providers, such as Google & FoxRates
- Support database cache driven for fast response
- Currency table and converter widget
- Can be integrated with a number of e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce & Easy Digital Downloads.
- Can detect local currency automatically
- Translation support
Important: This plugin needs your server to be running PHP 5.3.0 or later. Do not use this plugin if you currently have an older version of PHP installed. Ask your webhosting support team to upgrade your PHP.
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You can install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard by searching for “currencyr” in the Plugins screen and clicking the “Install” button …
When you have installed and activated the plugin, you can access the plugin’s settings by choosing Currencyr from your WP administration menu …
The plugin settings section offers you a number of configuration settings …
For example, you can select a base currency from a drop-down menu. The default base currency is ‘USD’ …
You can specify which data provider you want to use from the drop-down menu in the ‘Provider’ section. The default selection is Yahoo Finance, but you can select another option, like FoxRate or Google Finance …
Note: If you select ‘Open Exchange Rates’, you will need an API (Application Programming Interface) ID …
You can specify how often you want the currency exchange rates to update by selecting an option from the ‘Update Rates’ drop-down menu …
The Currencyr plugin uses jQuery, which lets web developers add things like animation effects to web applications (such as WP plugins).
If you have no reason to modify the jQuery settings, leave them as they are …
Configure the rest of the plugin settings according to your preferences and don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when done …
When you have configured your settings, you can easily add currency conversion to any WP post using shortcodes.
See the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section at the bottom of this tutorial to learn more about using currency codes (e.g. USD, AUD, ZAR, etc …) in the Currencyr plugin.
How To Use Plugin Shortcodes
You can insert currency conversion into pages, posts and widgets with no coding knowledge using shortcodes.
Below are some examples of currency shortcodes that you can add to your WordPress pages and posts:
Let’s say that you are selling goods online for a set price (e.g. $175) in US Dollars (USD), and you would like to display the conversion amount in British pounds (GBP) on your page.
All you need to do is add the following shortcode into your post or page …
Note: You can also add pricing in dollars and cents (for example, 155.25, 22.00, 2499.99, etc …)
The screenshot below shows how the shortcode looks when added to the page or post …
After publishing your page or post, your converted currency amount will then appear as seen below …
Using this example, let’s now convert the same amount into different currency formats.
To do this, use following shortcode (you can add as many currency symbols as you want separated by vertical pipes) …
You can see how the above shortcode appears when inserted into your content …
After publishing the post or page, the currency conversion will then display like this …
refer to the ‘Additional Plugin Notes’ section below to learn more about changing the currency separator symbol in the Currencyr plugin.
Now, let’s say that you would like to select a different base currency than the one you have set as your default.
For example, if you have set your default base currency as EUR and you have a section on your site targeted to visitors in countries like Australia or Canada, you can change the base currency using the following shortcode …
Here’s how the above shortcode looks when inserted into a post …
Once your page or post has been published, the converted currency amounts will then display like this …
Plugin Widget
You can also add a currency converter to your site’s sidebar menu using a widget.
To add currency conversion to your sidebar menu, choose Appearance > Widgets in your WP admin menu …
In the Widgets > Available Widgets section find the ‘Currencyr’ widget and drag it to the Active Widgets area …
Configure the widget settings as shown in the screenshot below (add any currency codes you would like displaying on your widget separated by a comma), and click ‘Save’ to update your settings …
Your currency conversion tool will now show on your site’s sidebar menu with the options you have selected …
Additional Plugin Notes
This section contains additional information about using the plugin.
Currency Separator
The Currencyr plugin lets you specify a symbol of your choice to display as the currency separator when using multiple currencies.
You can select a different symbol in the ‘Multiple Separator’ settings section.
So, for example, entering the default symbol “/” (forward slash) …
Separates all your prices with a forward slash as shown below …
If you specify another symbol and resave your settings …
Your site visitors will see the new symbol being used as the currency separator …
e-Commerce Platform Integration
As stated earlier, the Currencyr plugin can be integrated with various WP-compatible e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads …
(image sourced from Currencyr plugin website)
And there you have it! Now you know how to easily add a currency converter to your e-commerce site.
To learn more about WordPress e-commerce plugins, see the tutorial below:
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