diff --git a/__tests__/server/validate-data.js b/__tests__/server/validate-data.js
index f9459dae2..0bc4e1936 100644
--- a/__tests__/server/validate-data.js
+++ b/__tests__/server/validate-data.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ describe('validateData', () => {
   })
 
   test('should throw an error if data is an array', () => {
-    assert.throws(() => validateData([]), /must be an object/)
+    assert.throws(() => validateData([]), /Data must be an object. Found array./)
   })
 
   test("shouldn't throw an error", () => {
diff --git a/src/server/router/validate-data.js b/src/server/router/validate-data.js
index e01b78992..e6e4d52a2 100644
--- a/src/server/router/validate-data.js
+++ b/src/server/router/validate-data.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ module.exports = (obj) => {
     Object.keys(obj).forEach(validateKey)
   } else {
     throw new Error(
-      `Data must be an object. Found ${typeof obj}.` +
+      `Data must be an object. Found ${Array.isArray(obj) ? 'array' : typeof obj}.` +
         'See https://github.com/typicode/json-server for example.'
     )
   }