diff --git a/flows/results.go b/flows/results.go
index 6b40285f7..b0a0de81c 100644
--- a/flows/results.go
+++ b/flows/results.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-playground/validator/v10"
+	"github.com/nyaruka/gocommon/stringsx"
 	"github.com/nyaruka/goflow/envs"
 	"github.com/nyaruka/goflow/excellent/types"
 	"github.com/nyaruka/goflow/utils"
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ func init() {
 // Result describes a value captured during a run's execution. It might have been implicitly created by a router, or explicitly
 // created by a [set_run_result](#action:set_run_result) action.
 type Result struct {
-	Name              string          `json:"name" validate:"required,result_name"`
+	Name              string          `json:"name" validate:"required"` // TODO add result_name validation when we're sure sessions no longer have invalid result names
 	Value             string          `json:"value"`
 	Category          string          `json:"category,omitempty"`
 	CategoryLocalized string          `json:"category_localized,omitempty"`
@@ -161,3 +162,20 @@ func (r Results) format() string {
 	sort.Strings(lines)
 	return strings.Join(lines, "\n")
 }
+
+func (r *Results) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
+	var m map[string]*Result
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &m); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	*r = make(Results, len(m))
+
+	// we enforce result names being at most 64 chars but old sessions may have longer names
+	for _, v := range m {
+		v.Name = strings.TrimSpace(stringsx.Truncate(v.Name, 64))
+		(*r)[utils.Snakify(v.Name)] = v
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/flows/results_test.go b/flows/results_test.go
index c18673a41..6edd705e7 100644
--- a/flows/results_test.go
+++ b/flows/results_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package flows_test
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -60,6 +61,28 @@ func TestResults(t *testing.T) {
 			"values":               types.NewXArray(types.NewXText("")),
 		}),
 	}), resultsAsContext)
+
+	// test marshalling
+	marshaled, err := json.Marshal(results)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.JSONEq(t, `{
+		"beer": {"category": "Skol", "created_on":"2019-04-05T14:16:30.000123456Z", "name": "Beer", "node_uuid": "26493ebb-a254-4461-a28d-c7761784e276", "value": "skol!"}, 
+		"empty": {"created_on":"2019-04-05T14:16:30.000123456Z", "name": "Empty", "node_uuid": "26493ebb-a254-4461-a28d-c7761784e276", "value": ""}
+	}`, string(marshaled))
+
+	var unmarshaled flows.Results
+	err = json.Unmarshal(marshaled, &unmarshaled)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, results, unmarshaled)
+
+	// test unmarshalling with result names/keys that are too long
+	err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{
+		"beer_123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890": {"category": "Skol", "created_on":"2019-04-05T14:16:30.000123456Z", "name": "Beer 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890", "node_uuid": "26493ebb-a254-4461-a28d-c7761784e276", "value": "skol!"}, 
+		"empty_123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890": {"created_on":"2019-04-05T14:16:30.000123456Z", "name": "Empty 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890", "node_uuid": "26493ebb-a254-4461-a28d-c7761784e276", "value": ""}
+	}`), &unmarshaled)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "Beer 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789", unmarshaled.Get("beer_12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789").Name)
+	assert.Equal(t, "Empty 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678", unmarshaled.Get("empty_1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678").Name)
 }
 
 func TestResultNameAndCategoryValidation(t *testing.T) {