diff --git a/config.json.example b/config.json.example
index 161e8a7b1b..75c234ad7f 100644
--- a/config.json.example
+++ b/config.json.example
@@ -39,10 +39,8 @@
         "accessKeyId":"accessKeyId",
         "secretAccessKey":"secretAccessKey"
     },
-    "TRANSIFEX_SLACK": {
-      "url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/some-url",
-      "channel": "general"
-    },
+    "SLACK_URL": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/some-url",
+    "TRANSIFEX_SLACK_CHANNEL": "transifex",
     "PAYPAL":{
         "billing_plans": {
             "basic_earned":"basic_earned",
diff --git a/tasks/gulp-transifex-test.js b/tasks/gulp-transifex-test.js
index 72b51f54d6..d4e6cdc3c3 100644
--- a/tasks/gulp-transifex-test.js
+++ b/tasks/gulp-transifex-test.js
@@ -1,20 +1,19 @@
-import fs      from 'fs';
-import _       from 'lodash';
-import nconf   from 'nconf';
-import gulp    from 'gulp';
-import request from 'superagent';
+import fs       from 'fs';
+import _        from 'lodash';
+import nconf    from 'nconf';
+import gulp     from 'gulp';
+import { postToSlack, conf } from './taskHelper';
 
-nconf.argv().env().file({ file: 'config.json' });
+const SLACK_CONFIG = {
+  channel: conf.get('TRANSIFEX_SLACK_CHANNEL'),
+  username: 'Transifex',
+  emoji: 'transifex'
+}
 
 const LOCALES = './common/locales/';
 const ENGLISH_LOCALE = `${LOCALES}en/`;
 const ALL_LANGUAGES = getArrayOfLanguages();
 
-const SLACK_URL = nconf.get('TRANSIFEX_SLACK:url');
-const SLACK_CHANNEL = '#' + (nconf.get('TRANSIFEX_SLACK:channel') || 'general');
-const SLACK_USERNAME = 'Transifex';
-const SLACK_EMOJI = ':transifex:';
-
 const malformedStringExceptions = {
   messageDropFood: true,
   armoireFood: true,
@@ -35,7 +34,8 @@ gulp.task('transifex:missingFiles', () => {
 
   if (!_.isEmpty(missingStrings)) {
     let message = 'the following files were missing from the translations folder';
-    post(message, missingStrings);
+    let formattedMessage = formatMessageForPosting(message, missingStrings);
+    postToSlack(formattedMessage, SLACK_CONFIG);
   }
 });
 
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ gulp.task('transifex:missingStrings', () => {
 
   if (!_.isEmpty(missingStrings)) {
     let message = 'The following strings are not translated';
-    post(message, missingStrings);
+    let formattedMessage = formatMessageForPosting(message, missingStrings);
+    postToSlack(formattedMessage, SLACK_CONFIG);
   }
 });
 
@@ -92,12 +93,14 @@ gulp.task('transifex:malformedStrings', () => {
 
   if (!_.isEmpty(stringsWithMalformedInterpolations)) {
     let message = 'The following strings have malformed or missing interpolations';
-    post(message, stringsWithMalformedInterpolations);
+    let formattedMessage = formatMessageForPosting(message, stringsWithMalformedInterpolations);
+    postToSlack(formattedMessage, SLACK_CONFIG);
   }
 
   if (!_.isEmpty(stringsWithIncorrectNumberOfInterpolations)) {
     let message = 'The following strings have a different number of string interpolations';
-    post(message, stringsWithIncorrectNumberOfInterpolations);
+    let formattedMessage = formatMessageForPosting(message, stringsWithIncorrectNumberOfInterpolations);
+    postToSlack(formattedMessage, SLACK_CONFIG);
   }
 });
 
@@ -138,21 +141,6 @@ function eachTranslationString(languages, cb) {
   });
 }
 
-function post(message, items) {
-  let formattedMessage = formatMessageForPosting(message, items);
-
-  request.post(SLACK_URL)
-    .send({
-      channel: SLACK_CHANNEL,
-      username: SLACK_USERNAME,
-      text: formattedMessage,
-      icon_emoji: SLACK_EMOJI
-    })
-    .end((err, res) => {
-      if (err) console.error('Unable to post to slack', err);
-    });
-}
-
 function formatMessageForPosting(msg, items) {
   let body = `*Warning:* ${msg}`;
   body += '\n\n```\n';
diff --git a/tasks/taskHelper.js b/tasks/taskHelper.js
index 177b3b9f6f..a303421d0f 100644
--- a/tasks/taskHelper.js
+++ b/tasks/taskHelper.js
@@ -1,7 +1,15 @@
 import { exec } from 'child_process';
 import psTree   from 'ps-tree';
+import nconf    from 'nconf';
 import net      from 'net';
 import Q        from 'q';
+import { post } from 'superagent';
+
+/*
+ * Get access to configruable values
+ */
+nconf.argv().env().file({ file: 'config.json' });
+export var conf = nconf;
 
 /*
  * Kill a child process and any sub-children that process may have spawned.
@@ -58,3 +66,28 @@ export function pipe(child) {
   child.stdout.on('data', (data) => { process.stdout.write(data) });
   child.stderr.on('data', (data) => { process.stderr.write(data) });
 };
+
+/*
+ * Post request to notify configured slack channel
+ */
+export function postToSlack(msg, config={}) {
+  let slackUrl = nconf.get('SLACK_URL');
+
+  if (!slackUrl) {
+    console.error('No slack post url specified. Your message was:');
+    console.log(msg);
+
+    return;
+  }
+
+  post(slackUrl)
+    .send({
+      channel: `#${config.channel || '#general'}`,
+      username: config.username || 'gulp task',
+      text: msg,
+      icon_emoji: `:${config.emoji || 'gulp'}:`
+    })
+    .end((err, res) => {
+      if (err) console.error('Unable to post to slack', err);
+    });
+}