diff --git a/bitreq/src/request.rs b/bitreq/src/request.rs
index 7f9b5d530..2f1755782 100644
--- a/bitreq/src/request.rs
+++ b/bitreq/src/request.rs
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ impl Request {
     pub fn with_json<T: serde::ser::Serialize>(mut self, body: &T) -> Result<Request, Error> {
         self.headers
             .insert("Content-Type".to_string(), "application/json; charset=UTF-8".to_string());
-        match serde_json::to_string(&body) {
+        match serde_json::to_vec(&body) {
             Ok(json) => Ok(self.with_body(json)),
             Err(err) => Err(Error::SerdeJsonError(err)),
         }
diff --git a/bitreq/src/response.rs b/bitreq/src/response.rs
index eaf254f04..b234de107 100644
--- a/bitreq/src/response.rs
+++ b/bitreq/src/response.rs
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ impl Response {
     where
         T: serde::de::Deserialize<'a>,
     {
-        match serde_json::from_str(self.as_str()?) {
+        match serde_json::from_slice(self.as_bytes()) {
             Ok(json) => Ok(json),
             Err(err) => Err(Error::SerdeJsonError(err)),
         }