diff --git a/example.js b/example.js
index 87f9396..adfbb72 100644
--- a/example.js
+++ b/example.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ var Mixpanel = require('./lib/mixpanel-node');
 
 // create an instance of the mixpanel client
 var mixpanel = Mixpanel.init('962dbca1bbc54701d402c94d65b4a20e');
-mixpanel.set_config({ debug: true });
+mixpanel.set_config({ debug: true, strict: true });
 
 // track an event with optional properties
 mixpanel.track("my event", {
diff --git a/lib/mixpanel-node.js b/lib/mixpanel-node.js
index adac3f5..4986925 100644
--- a/lib/mixpanel-node.js
+++ b/lib/mixpanel-node.js
@@ -111,6 +111,10 @@ var create_client = function(token, config) {
             query_params.test = 1;
         }
 
+        if (metrics.config.strict) {
+            query_params.strict = 1;
+        }
+
         request_options.path = metrics.config.path + endpoint + "?" + querystring.stringify(query_params);
 
         request = request_lib.request(request_options, function(res) {
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index c47e926..e509d8f 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -18,11 +18,12 @@ Quick Start
 var Mixpanel = require('mixpanel');
 
 // create an instance of the mixpanel client
-var mixpanel = Mixpanel.init('<YOUR_TOKEN>');
+var mixpanel = Mixpanel.init('<YOUR_TOKEN>', {strict: true});
 
 // initialize mixpanel client configured to communicate over https
 var mixpanel = Mixpanel.init('<YOUR_TOKEN>', {
-    protocol: 'https'
+    protocol: 'https',
+    strict: true,
 });
 
 // track an event with optional properties