diff --git a/netbox/utilities/forms.py b/netbox/utilities/forms.py
index af4e92dd0..dae9abda3 100644
--- a/netbox/utilities/forms.py
+++ b/netbox/utilities/forms.py
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ import csv
 import json
 import re
 from io import StringIO
+import yaml
 
 from django import forms
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.postgres.forms.jsonb import JSONField as _JSONField, InvalidJSONInput
-from django.utils.html import mark_safe
 from mptt.forms import TreeNodeMultipleChoiceField
 
 from .constants import *
@@ -747,7 +747,8 @@ class ImportForm(BootstrapMixin, forms.Form):
     Generic form for creating an object from JSON/YAML data
     """
     data = forms.CharField(
-        widget=forms.Textarea
+        widget=forms.Textarea,
+        help_text="Enter object data in JSON or YAML format."
     )
     format = forms.ChoiceField(
         choices=(
@@ -756,3 +757,24 @@ class ImportForm(BootstrapMixin, forms.Form):
         ),
         initial='yaml'
     )
+
+    def clean(self):
+
+        data = self.cleaned_data['data']
+        format = self.cleaned_data['format']
+
+        # Process JSON/YAML data
+        if format == 'json':
+            try:
+                self.cleaned_data['data'] = json.loads(data)
+            except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError as err:
+                raise forms.ValidationError({
+                    'data': "Invalid JSON data: {}".format(err)
+                })
+        else:
+            try:
+                self.cleaned_data['data'] = yaml.load(data)
+            except yaml.scanner.ScannerError as err:
+                raise forms.ValidationError({
+                    'data': "Invalid YAML data: {}".format(err)
+                })
diff --git a/netbox/utilities/views.py b/netbox/utilities/views.py
index 3a9b19c76..b5406e145 100644
--- a/netbox/utilities/views.py
+++ b/netbox/utilities/views.py
@@ -420,18 +420,10 @@ class ObjectImportView(GetReturnURLMixin, View):
     def post(self, request):
 
         form = ImportForm(request.POST)
-
         if form.is_valid():
 
-            # Process object data
-            if form.cleaned_data['format'] == 'json':
-                data = json.loads(form.cleaned_data['data'])
-            else:
-                data = yaml.load(form.cleaned_data['data'])
-
             # Initialize model form
-            model_form = self.model_form(data)
-
+            model_form = self.model_form(form.cleaned_data['data'])
             if model_form.is_valid():
 
                 with transaction.atomic():