The effect of channel coupling in electron-atom collisions involving electric dipole transitions is investigated for (a) the large-angle elastic scattering of low-energy electrons by Hg and (b) the small-angle elastic scattering of low- and high-energy electrons by H. The effect in (a) is to produce changes in the phase shifts of the order of 0·1°. The effect in (b) is to increase the differential cross section near 0° by several orders of magnitude.