diff --git a/src/components/ha-service-control.ts b/src/components/ha-service-control.ts
index de71b6adac..295ff0aeef 100644
--- a/src/components/ha-service-control.ts
+++ b/src/components/ha-service-control.ts
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ export class HaServiceControl extends LitElement {
     if (oldValue?.service !== this.value?.service) {
       let updatedDefaultValue = false;
       if (this._value && serviceData) {
+        const loadDefaults = this.value && !("data" in this.value);
         // Set mandatory bools without a default value to false
         if (!this._value.data) {
           this._value.data = {};
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ export class HaServiceControl extends LitElement {
             this._value!.data![field.key] = false;
           }
           if (
+            loadDefaults &&
             field.selector &&
             field.default !== undefined &&
             this._value!.data![field.key] === undefined
@@ -341,10 +343,10 @@ export class HaServiceControl extends LitElement {
                     .selector=${dataField.selector}
                     .key=${dataField.key}
                     @value-changed=${this._serviceDataChanged}
-                    .value=${this._value?.data &&
-                    this._value.data[dataField.key] !== undefined
+                    .value=${this._value?.data
                       ? this._value.data[dataField.key]
-                      : dataField.default}
+                      : undefined}
+                    .placeholder=${dataField.default}
                   ></ha-selector>
                 </ha-settings-row>`
               : "";
@@ -362,7 +364,7 @@ export class HaServiceControl extends LitElement {
         this._value?.service,
         this.hass.services
       )?.fields.find((field) => field.key === key)?.default;
-      if (defaultValue) {
+      if (defaultValue != null) {
         data = {
           ...this._value?.data,
           [key]: defaultValue,
diff --git a/src/panels/lovelace/components/hui-action-editor.ts b/src/panels/lovelace/components/hui-action-editor.ts
index 5bc031abc5..4077ae9a09 100644
--- a/src/panels/lovelace/components/hui-action-editor.ts
+++ b/src/panels/lovelace/components/hui-action-editor.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ export class HuiActionEditor extends LitElement {
   private _serviceAction = memoizeOne(
     (config: CallServiceActionConfig): ServiceAction => ({
       service: this._service,
-      data: config.data ?? config.service_data,
+      ...(config.data || config.service_data
+        ? { data: config.data ?? config.service_data }
+        : null),
       target: config.target,
     })
   );
@@ -196,9 +198,12 @@ export class HuiActionEditor extends LitElement {
     const value = {
       ...this.config!,
       service: ev.detail.value.service || "",
-      data: ev.detail.value.data || {},
+      data: ev.detail.value.data,
       target: ev.detail.value.target || {},
     };
+    if (!ev.detail.value.data) {
+      delete value.data;
+    }
     // "service_data" is allowed for backwards compatibility but replaced with "data" on write
     if ("service_data" in value) {
       delete value.service_data;