diff --git a/elastalert/alerts.py b/elastalert/alerts.py
index f2f31853f..76772161a 100644
--- a/elastalert/alerts.py
+++ b/elastalert/alerts.py
@@ -1416,7 +1416,7 @@ def alert(self, matches):
         try:
             response = requests.post(
                 self.url,
-                data=json.dumps(payload, cls=DateTimeEncoder, ensure_ascii=False),
+                data=json.dumps(payload, cls=DateTimeEncoder, ensure_ascii=False).encode("utf-8"),
                 headers=headers,
                 proxies=proxies
             )