diff --git a/API.md b/API.md
index 4c4a233..cd127c5 100644
--- a/API.md
+++ b/API.md
@@ -134,6 +134,14 @@ Creates a new ReJSON client.
 ``encoder`` should be an instance of a ``json.JSONEncoder`` class
 ``decoder`` should be an instance of a ``json.JSONDecoder`` class
 
+**IMPORTANT**: With Python 3 the redis-py client defaults to returning bytes
+instead of string replies. To overcome this, make sure that you
+initialize the class with its ``decode_responses`` argument set to
+``True``, e.g.:
+
+```py
+rj = Client(host='localhost', port=6379, decode_responses=True)
+```
 
 ### jsonarrappend
 ```py
@@ -210,7 +218,7 @@ def jsonarrtrim(self, name, path, start, stop)
 
 
 
-Trim the array JSON value under ``path`` at key ``name`` to the 
+Trim the array JSON value under ``path`` at key ``name`` to the
 inclusive range given by ``start`` and ``stop``
 
 
@@ -248,7 +256,7 @@ def jsonmget(self, path, *args)
 
 
 
-Gets the objects stored as a JSON values under ``path`` from 
+Gets the objects stored as a JSON values under ``path`` from
 keys ``args``
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3e8a369..e723bd7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 [![Mailing List](https://img.shields.io/badge/Mailing%20List-RedisJSON-blue)](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/redisjson)
 [![Gitter](https://badges.gitter.im/RedisLabs/RedisJSON.svg)](https://gitter.im/RedisLabs/RedisJSON?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge)
-    
+
 rejson-py is a package that allows storing, updating and querying objects as
 JSON documents in a [Redis](https://redis.io) database that is extended with the
 [ReJSON module](https://github.com/redislabsmodules/rejson). The package extends
@@ -67,6 +67,18 @@ $ pip install rejson
    print '{} is a non-ascii string'.format(rj.jsonget('non-ascii', Path('.non_ascii_string'), no_escape=True))
 ```
 
+## Python 2 vs. 3
+
+The following is an excerpt from [redis-py's README "Getting Started" section](https://github.com/andymccurdy/redis-py/blob/master/README.rst#getting-started):
+
+> By default, all responses are returned as bytes in Python 3 and str in Python 2. The user is responsible for decoding to Python 3 strings or Python 2 unicode objects.
+
+Because of that, when using this client with Python 3, you initialize it with the base class's `decode_responses` argument set to `True`, e.g.:
+
+```py
+rj = Client(host='localhost', port=6379, decode_responses=True)
+```
+
 ## Encoding/Decoding
 
 rejson-py uses Python's [json](https://docs.python.org/2/library/json.html).
diff --git a/rejson/client.py b/rejson/client.py
index d8c806c..fb5a5c9 100644
--- a/rejson/client.py
+++ b/rejson/client.py
@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ def __init__(self, encoder=None, decoder=None, *args, **kwargs):
 
         ``encoder`` should be an instance of a ``json.JSONEncoder`` class
         ``decoder`` should be an instance of a ``json.JSONDecoder`` class
+
+        IMPORTANT: With Python 3 the redis-py client defaults to returning bytes
+        instead of string replies. To overcome this, make sure that you
+        initialize the class with its ``decode_responses`` argument set to
+        ``True``, e.g.:
+
+        ```
+        rj = Client(host='localhost', port=6379, decode_responses=True)
+        ```
         """
         self.setEncoder(encoder)
         self.setDecoder(decoder)
@@ -69,7 +78,7 @@ def __init__(self, encoder=None, decoder=None, *args, **kwargs):
         }
         for k, v in six.iteritems(MODULE_CALLBACKS):
             self.set_response_callback(k, v)
-                                    
+
     def setEncoder(self, encoder):
         """
         Sets the client's encoder
@@ -124,7 +133,7 @@ def jsonget(self, name, *args, no_escape=False):
 
     def jsonmget(self, path, *args):
         """
-        Gets the objects stored as a JSON values under ``path`` from 
+        Gets the objects stored as a JSON values under ``path`` from
         keys ``args``
         """
         pieces = []
@@ -228,7 +237,7 @@ def jsonarrpop(self, name, path=Path.rootPath(), index=-1):
 
     def jsonarrtrim(self, name, path, start, stop):
         """
-        Trim the array JSON value under ``path`` at key ``name`` to the 
+        Trim the array JSON value under ``path`` at key ``name`` to the
         inclusive range given by ``start`` and ``stop``
         """
         return self.execute_command('JSON.ARRTRIM', name, str_path(path), start, stop)